Estimate your Key West case in about a minute
Florida is already selected. Your answers, your documented losses, and Florida's fault and insurance rules produce the range.
If you were visiting when you were hurt
Florida law governs your claim because the injury happened in Florida. Not the law of your home state, and not the law of the state that issued your auto policy. Florida’s two-year filing deadline applies, its 50 per cent comparative fault bar applies, and its no-fault threshold applies to a vehicle claim. People routinely assume the opposite and lose time they cannot recover.
Leaving the Keys does not end your claim, but two things need handling before you go. Get the crash report request started: every Florida agency files with FLHSMV within ten days, and the state portal sells the report for $10 plus a $2 transaction fee to anyone with a qualifying interest, from anywhere. And arrange continuing treatment at home before you travel, because a gap between your last Key West visit and your first appointment at home is the most common attack on a visitor claim.
The bicycle and scooter numbers are the clearest signal of what actually injures people here. Key West is small, flat, and mostly explored on rented bicycles and scooters by people unfamiliar with the streets, which is why bicycle crashes in Monroe County outnumber pedestrian crashes by more than two to one. A rental scooter claim raises questions a car claim does not: whether the rental operator maintained the vehicle, what the rental agreement said about insurance, and whether a helmet was provided.
Geography constrains everything else. The Overseas Highway is the only road connecting the Keys to the mainland and most of it is two lanes with limited passing, so head-on and rear-end collisions are over-represented compared with a typical urban county and a single crash can close the corridor entirely. Because so much of the road network here is state highway, a claim about road conditions on US 1 usually runs against the Florida Department of Transportation rather than the City of Key West or Monroe County, which changes who has to be served and when.
Bicycles, scooters and pedestrians in the Keys
60
Pedestrian crashes
161
Bicycle crashes
63
Motorcycle crashes
Of the 1,732 crashes in Monroe County in 2024, 161 involved a bicycle, 63 involved a motorcycle, and 60 involved a pedestrian. One cyclist and two pedestrians were killed; no motorcycle crash in the county was fatal that year. A county where cyclists are struck more often than pedestrians and more often than motorcyclists is genuinely unusual, and it reflects how visitors move around Key West rather than how residents commute.
For a claim, the practical consequence is that fault is contested differently. A cyclist or scooter rider struck in the Old Town grid is usually in a low-speed collision with disputed right of way, no independent witnesses who live locally, and possibly no police report if nobody was obviously injured at the scene. Getting a report filed and a same-day medical evaluation matters more here than in a highway collision where the physical evidence speaks for itself.
Source: Florida Health CHARTS — Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes, Ten Years Data by County (Florida Department of Health, from FLHSMV records). Reviewed 2026-07-29.
Monroe County crash snapshot
1,732
Reported crashes in 2024
1,252
People reported injured
5
Crashes per day, on average
60
Involved a pedestrian
161
Involved a bicycle
Source: Florida Health CHARTS — Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes, Ten Years Data by County (Florida Department of Health, from FLHSMV records). Reviewed 2026-07-29.
Corridors that generate the most Monroe County claims
- 1
Overseas Highway (US 1)
The only road connecting the Keys to the mainland. Most of it is two lanes with limited passing, which means a single collision can close the corridor entirely and that head-on and rear-end collisions are over-represented relative to a typical urban county.
- 2
North Roosevelt Boulevard, Key West
The main approach into Key West, carrying nearly all vehicle traffic entering the island alongside a shared-use path.
- 3
Duval Street and the Old Town grid
Very low vehicle speeds but exceptionally high pedestrian, bicycle, and scooter volume, which is why bicycle crashes in Monroe County outnumber pedestrian crashes by more than two to one.
How to get your Key West crash report
- Where to request it
- https://services.flhsmv.gov/CrashPortal/
- Cost
- $10.00 per report under Fla. Stat. § 321.23, plus a $2.00 convenience fee per transaction
- Timing and access
- Agencies must file with FLHSMV within 10 days. Reports purchased online are available immediately and must be downloaded within 48 hours. For the first 60 days after the crash the report is confidential under Fla. Stat. § 316.066(2) and is released only to the parties, their attorneys and insurers, and other categories named in the statute, on a sworn statement. Mail and in-person requests take 4 to 6 weeks.
How fault is allocated in Florida
Florida follows modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar. Below that line your recovery is reduced in proportion to your fault. Above it, you recover nothing at all, which makes the fault allocation the central dispute in most contested claims.
As an example, a $100,000 claim in which you are found 20% responsible would yield $80,000. The same claim with 51% responsibility attributed to you would yield nothing, because Florida bars recovery above 50%.
Florida is a no-fault state
$10,000 in personal injury protection, which pays 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost wages. Treatment must begin within 14 days of the crash, and the full $10,000 is only available if a medical provider certifies an emergency medical condition — otherwise the benefit is limited to $2,500.
Florida does not require ordinary private-passenger drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage at all. The mandatory minimum is $10,000 in property damage liability alongside the coverage above. This means the driver who injured you may have no liability coverage for your injuries, which is why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy frequently determines what a serious claim can actually collect.
Florida filing deadlines
2 years
Personal injury
2 years
Wrongful death
3 years
Claim against a government agency
Reviewed 2026-07-29. Not yet reviewed by a licensed attorney. This is general information, not legal advice.
Courts that hear Monroe County civil cases
Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, Monroe County
General civil claims
500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040
Court recordsMonroe County Court, Civil Division
Smaller civil claims
500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040
Court recordsIf a government agency was involved
Claims against the City of Key West or Monroe County proceed under Fla. Stat. § 768.28, with written notice to the agency and to the Department of Financial Services within three years and a 180-day investigation period. Because so much of the road network in the Keys is state highway, a claim arising on the Overseas Highway is frequently against the Florida Department of Transportation rather than a local agency, which changes who must be served.
Other Florida locations
Claims we can estimate in Key West
Key West questions
Sources and review dates
- U.S. Census Bureau — Key West place GEOID 1236550, population 25,240 (2024 Population Estimates), land area 5.599 sq mi (2023 Gazetteer).
- Florida Health CHARTS — Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes, Ten Years Data by County (Florida Department of Health, from FLHSMV records) · reviewed 2026-07-29
- FLHSMV Crash Dashboard · reviewed 2026-07-29
- FLHSMV — Traffic Crash Reports · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 321.23 — Public records; fees for copies · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 316.066 — Written reports of crashes · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 768.28 — Waiver of sovereign immunity in tort actions · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 95.11 — Limitations other than for the recovery of real property · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 768.81 — Comparative fault · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 627.736 — Required personal injury protection benefits · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Florida DHSMV — Insurance requirements · reviewed 2026-07-29
- North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan, 219 So. 3d 49 (Fla. 2017) · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Fla. Stat. § 768.73 — Punitive damages; limitation · reviewed 2026-07-29
About this page
State law on this page was last reviewed 2026-07-29 and has not been reviewed by a licensed attorney. It is general information, not legal advice for your situation.
Local commentary on this page was prepared 2026-07-29 and reviewed against the cited sources by a person before publication.
We do not publish attorney profiles or rankings, and nothing on this page recommends or endorses any attorney. CaseValuation.com is operated by LuxeLaw LLC, which is not a law firm.
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